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Friday evening, I picked up my rider packet and signed (but didn't read) all the waivers. I was also told they were out of "Large" so I could have a Med or XL jersey instead. Thankfully, I really wanted a Med, so got that and was happy with my choice. Same brand of jersey as my earlier post on my new team kit (Athlos). There was dinner and a ceremony, but I bailed so I could get stuff in place and also a nice night's rest before the ride. A good call as I got everything squared away and loaded the bike in my wife's car plus set the coffee maker to start an hour earlier! Saturday, at 5am, I was up and getting ready. Drank my cup (just one) of coffee, ate my overnight muesli breakfast, and got dressed for the ride. For the first day, it was the team (company) kit. My company was also a sponsor of the ride, so it was a good complement the ride jersey (my final day option) that many folks were wearing. We hopped in the car and my wife drove me to the start at the Hyatt Regency in Crystal City where I hopped out, handed my overnight bag off to the ride coordinators, finished setting my bike up, and met up with the other folks I'd be riding with - 3 I knew, 2 I didn't. At 7:00am, we all assembled on the road in front of the hotel for the "big start" and special announcements. About 375 riders in total. Top fundraisers were announced. Team leader announced. Sponsors were announced. And then the riders with special circumstances were stationed at the front, the national anthem played, and at 7:15 we were off! For the first ~10 miles, we had a full police escort. Motorcycle cops would rotate around our group closing off intersections and keeping traffic at bay. We meandered our way from Crystal City over through JB Myer-Henderson and around the perimeter of Arlington National Cemetery as well as the chapel on base where my BiL's funeral took place before his burial in the cemetery. That was a bit emotional. Then, out the other side of the base and off for a loop around the Iwo Jima Memorial and past the Carillon and then through Rosslyn, across the Key Bridge into Georgetown, out past the Exorcist Stairs, and up MacArthur Blvd and then a steady ramble into Maryland and the increasing countryside heading NW. We passed through Potomac, kept going past White's Ferry, and then out into places I vaguely recognized, but never knew the name of or could pinpoint on a map. We wrapped up at the Frederick Fairgrounds for the end of Day 1 and the starting point of Day 2. Beautiful scenery and lots of fun. The ride (Face of America - Gettysburg) is a charity ride for enabling wounded vets (and non-vets) to continue being active and, for this particular ride, focusing on cycling in all its current forms for soldiers missing a limb(s), with paralysis, hearing or sight impaired, traumatic brain injuries, etc.. I rode with a woman who had lost her leg and was riding with a prosthetic - amazing to see her on the hills. Also amazing to see her reconnect with another rider who also lost his leg, and they were "neighbors" when recovering in the hospital. Ebike and motorized trikes were also big helps for many. Lots and lots of trikes, and a few handtrikes. We'd clear out if possible for the trikes on any downhills so they could get some momentum to get up the next hill. When they struggled, there were always folks riding with them to grab their "push" bars or keep them going straight. Generally, a pretty inspiring show of determination for many of these folks to get up and over hills that I wouldn't think twice about. Seeing one guy missing a leg, but riding without a prosthetic (but e-assisted), was pretty amazing too. It's hard to characterize it all in one way, as each of those folks (and ones I didn't see/notice) were uniquely handicapped, but finding ways to keep moving. Pretty impressive but also a gut check on how good most of us have it. Most of these folks were Iraq/Afghanistan era soldiers, and what we see is the stuff that would have killed soldiers back in Vietnam or before, is now often just taking a precious limb or sight. Body armor worked to keep folks alive in awful circumstances, but the parts not fully protected often meant they were saved on the battlefield, but in some way profoundly injured. Human spirit, though, kicks in, and the lucky ones figure out how to keep going. There were a lot of them on the ride. There were many rest stops scheduled through the day 1 route. I think four plus the final at the fairgrounds. So much food and drink, and plenty of time to talk to other folks and hear their stories (or just chat about bikes). Lots of volunteers out helping out and cheering the riders on. With the ride being a "rolling" escorted ride, there was a front led by the ride director, a wide variety of motorcycle support, and then the SAG and other support bringing up the rear. Very rarely did we stop other than at a rest stop, and it was really nice to have clear roads ahead of us (opposite lane traffic was open). It was a VERY hodge-podge collection of riders on a wide variety of bike. The pace of the ride - averaging 12mph or so - was one that made it doable for so many folks, and for me, it really allowed it to be a "conversation" ride where I could find random suckers people to chat up and hear about their "why" and other stuff. Folks from across the country and I definitely had a few interesting stories from folks I'd usually never get a chance to talk to. We wrapped up the ride with some food and drink at the fairgrounds, before shuttling off to our hotels for the evening. The boss took us out to dinner, so that was nice too. Thought I would watch some tv after dinner but was out like a light in minutes with the alarm set for a 5:20am start the next morning. I figured a slow 60 miles wouldn't be tough - it wasn't - but a long day and lots of "on" time chatting with folks really added up to me sleeping like a baby.

Owing to the arrival of the Hellbeast, I only got out for maybe a dozen rides last year. The last one was mid September. Despite the forecast calling for rain and temps in the low 50’s, I said “to hell with it” and jumped out for a quick ten. ”Quick” relative. That was the hardest I’ve worked for a 14MPH average, in quite a while and uphill overpass sprints still suck, but the last stat is the most important:

During The Pestilence of '20, I found this gash in my Slate frame. (I think it fell over while I had it up on my workbench and hit the vise. Dunno, I found the gash afterward and think I remember it falling over). I immediately went into Panic Mode, thinking I was going to die in a horrible bike wreck. So I started shopping around for a replacement frame to hang all the parts on. Of course the whole world had shut down and frames were like hen's teeth. Quite a number of folks on the Riding Gravel forums had purchased frames from Carbonda and had good luck, and it's rumored to be the same frame as the Obed Boundary so I figured WTH and ordered one in the colors of my choosing. First fly in the ointment: the cranks aren't compatible. "OK...I'll buy a crankset". Second hangup: the Lefty front wheel won't cross over and Project 321 who make a Lefty adapter to run the Lefty Fork on any bike are shut down. "Okayfine". I scored a good deal on a set of Spinergy wheels. Then it was "I'd really like to go GRX Di2..." As I started scrounging and surfing for the six available parts on the planet, I really wanted to ride, so I took a chance on riding the CrackNFail. I didn't die. I rode it more. I didn't die. Eventually, the Carbonda became its pwn entity. I finished it and now ride that, as well as the Slate. The end.

By a recommendation from a friend, I bought the Dynaplug pro plug thingie for gravel. I haven't used it yet. Anywho, Since I'm only using it on my CAADX for gravel riding it would be nice to frame mount it. It did not come w/ a frame mount which made me bummed out Then I thought, I could design & print one. This made me excited So I modeled one up in Solidworks and printed it. It took a couple iterations, but it works great, this made me happy I have a frame pump mounted to one bottle cage, so I designed the plug holder based on that concept for mounting to the other cage. I've ridden a few gravel rides and its still on the bike👍 It comes loaded w/ four plugs, 1 big, 3 not big. Another reason I want it on the frame is for ease of use. When a puncture occurs I want to be able to access it quick, and not fumble around in a saddle bag or jersey pocket. This cost about 57 bucks. Worth it if it works great.

If no one shows in the next few minutes, it will be a group of one. The weather is a little dodgy plus there is another club ride that is more fun this morning. I am leading the "turtle" ride and the other ride is for the "turbos".

A new GRAVEL BIKE. (My first non road bike) A Giant Revolt Advanced. My commuter bike that I ride in the rain all winter has been on It's last legs for a while this winter, and is in need a major overhaul. My Rocky Mountain has been my rain bike since 2009. It was a great bike and I did my first,( and my fastest ) century on that bike. My wife and I were talking this weekend as we are going away for a week for our Anniversary in June and she suggested taking our non-road bikes to ride some of the trails. I told her my bike would need a major overhaul after the winter because right now it is shot and she said "It's 15 years old, and you have put 30,000km on it, it doesn't owe you anything. Let's go look at new bikes." (I love that woman) so I said "I'm in!" I put fenders on it for the rain but they come off easy. We have lots of back roads around here so I may do a couple gravel road rides too

I opted for the Amstel Gold race yesterday evening, and enjoyed the women's sprint finish a LOT. The men's finish was sort of expected but only after the race was pretty far along. I didn't see the Masters, so wonder how that turned out.

…provided you’re one of the 2 people who don’t doubt his sincerity

I gotta say, a few years in and ebikes really do seem to be a big part of the community of "cyclists" now. I see countless casual e-cyclists and several consistent e-commuters. I really expected it to be more a "fad" but it is slowly getting a stronger grip on things and I see it as much with older folks as anybody. Sure, the cheaper the ebike, the younger the rider and sometimes worse behavior, but with so many mainstream brands now selling a wide variety, ebikes are starting to fulfill a role where they get folks who "want" to ride out and about and removing the "can't" portion from the equation. How about you?

That rolls up to a stop light and moves AHEAD of folks on bikes who got there before you? And then do you ride like a wuss ass once the light turns so that a giant Stau develops behind you? JERK!

I spotted a guy on a bike with aerobars on the trail that paralleled my route on the road. You see me pass him (he's on the "trail") and he spots me and clearly decides the road is where the fun is He tucks on the bars and reals me in fairly quickly, but I'm on the road because that's where the hills are, and to his chagrin (maybe), it's a left turn and then we go up (or I do). He just sort of disappeared on the climb, and I actually thought he would be able to catch me on the descent, but maybe he ended up stopping or turning around.

...from $25 to $30/yr. @JerrySTL and @bikeman564™ might appreciate the costs and the balance between keeping costs reasonable and paying the bills.

And because I like anal-izing things in Excel To me, riding 6000 miles a year is where my bar is set. It's a tough but doable goal. I have records back to 1992 which is when I graduated HS. I remember riding 3500 miles in 2000. That was a milestone for me The years between 2010-15, I worked a lot of overtime...a lot of overtime. I started riding w/ BCC in 2017. And 2019 was the felt-like-crap year because of the tumor and didn't think I'd break 1000 But I kicked ass in 2020

...but their saddle height looked okay

...for Belgian (and Belgian inspired) beer! And, a chance to prolong St Patty's day and to get pumped for camping season!

3D printed a fitting for my Stans sealant syringe It took 4 attempts to get thread correct. It's an M6x0.75 thread, but the threads are akin to an ACME thread (more square than pointy). Anywho, threads on a valve stem easily. The current one that is on the syringe is fit tight and could be because its a softer plastic. But with access to Solidworks & 3D printer, why wouldn't I do this

...like this guy. I think my noggin is too tender? My nads to sensitive?

Is this a good price?

..but interesting to see his skewering of Lemond. I wish I was paying more attention to pro cycling back then.

...folks here might have discussed an American 1 & 3 finish in a race like Paris-Nice Sadly, the last mention of Jorgenson was a YEAR ago. Congrats to Jorgensen and to McNulty. (And Evenepoel).

...in Taipei. One of the centers of the cycling tech world, @Rattlecan. Maybe qualifies as a business expense, too!